"I would like to exchange currency for goods and services. Why is this so hard?" (Or, Some Hard-Earned Wisdom About Finding a GC)
As mentioned in a previous post, over the course of planning this renovation we've had TWO general contractors commit to doing the project and then unceremoniously bail. Via email. At least break up with some class, oye.
Why are we so unlovable? We're fun. We're cute. Our baggage is pretty minimal. Well, as is the outcome of most breakups, it's not us, it's THEM.
So, homeowners have lots of money to throw at their HGTV-fueled fever dreams of RECLAIMED SHIPLAP FEATURE WALLS, and general contractors 1) can demand higher prices for that work BUT 2) can't possibly take all the business that's being thrown at them. So, these guys are eating a LOT better than they were 10 years ago (post-subprime), and they're trying to take advantage of that because, let's face it, nothing lasts forever. BUT, because their capacity is so constrained, they're trying to take the best jobs possible.
Long story short, we're not the best job possible. We tie up a lot of people for a fairly long period of time and we don't have an appetite for the OUTDOOR FIREPLACE COMBO PIZZA OVEN AND WATERSLIDE FOR SOME REASON that the guy down the street will pay $47,000 for. In addition, Joe is hell bent on DIYing some things and kind of taking money directly out of their pocket.
So, basically we look like a good meal ticket until you come across two back-to-back $80k kitchen renovations that you can knock out in a couple months. Then you break up with us via email, Diana does some crying, and Joe plots revenge [clenches fist in front of face].
Technically we went through a GC search twice. The first time, we started by reaching out to maybe 4 or 5, asking them a hundred million question, having them walk the property, etc. After many months, we "decided" on the guy we liked. But, looking back, the reality was that we chose him because he was pretty much the only viable option left; everyone else was too expensive, had really bad communication or had just gone kind of unresponsive. So, at the end we weren't really saying "do we want red or white?"; we were saying, "this apple wine seems pretty good."
The second time around, we did two things differently. First, we started with a BIG pool of options, sourced from personal referrals and the internet. We reached out to almost 20, and talked significantly with about 10. You HAVE TO use a productivity tool to deal with this (I really liked Notion.so); you will not survive otherwise.
So, by staying organized and starting with a big pool, we were able to get a lot more actual quotes and spend more time talking through options with more sources than we had previously done. And by “staying organized” I really mean, “knowing where you left a conversation, EXACTLY, and following up with that person when they’ve blown through some commitment, which they will do. Repeatedly.”
This was a HUGE time commitment. It's a part-time job, easily. So, you probably need to have the luxury of a very flexible [actual] job. At the end, we ended up with two options we actually liked. It was genuinely really hard deciding between them. But in that same pool were multiple GCs that bid more than 2x the budget and even more who ghosted before even getting us a bid. So, based on this experience, burning a lot of your time on a big pool of options pays off, because you have buffer for the options that will never be viable.
Where this method REALLY starts to pay off is when you have two good options, you pick one, and then the one you pick ditches you. For anyone keeping score, again, this happened to us TWICE.
The first time, he was our sole option, so we had to go back to the drawing board. This took months. The second time, we had a comparable option more-or-less ready to go and were able to quickly pivot (save for some groveling/begging him to take the project after I'd already told him we were going with someone else).
What we found is that the GC game is a lot more matchmaking than we originally assumed. You have to try to find someone that "gets" how you want to approach a project. At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, you have to be able to communicate. And, based on the crop that we worked with, that is NOT a guarantee.
Which brings us to...
But job interviews are terrible at predicting whether someone will be good at a job, and in retrospect, the GC "interviewing" technique was just as flawed. Eh, it was probably actually worse.
With round two we were a little more time-motivated. Instead of playing 20 questions, I was more concerned with whipping these guys through the process of:
Through this process, you learn a LOT about how a GC operates. When you're walking them around the house explaining things you want to do, do they actually get what the heck you're talking about? Do they listen to you? Do they make suggestions that actually jive with your style or are they suggesting things you hate?
When you get a quote, how organized is it? Do their number seems close to other quotes? Is the electrical number half of what everyone else's is? If so, I doubt they have an awesome budget electrician -- it's more likely they're not scoping the job accurately. Just as importantly, are they transparent about their costs and how they make money?
We found that just working through the process of "can we get to a number we're feeling good about?" will yield as good if not better results than trying to specifically do a bunch of vetting up front.
However, finding a good fit is only part of the equation; finding someone that you think is a good fit for style doesn't necessarily mean that that person won't rip you off, blow through you budget, etc. That is one of the places where a personal referral really shows its merit. However, here are some basic steps that can help provide some peace of mind even if your selected mate, er, GC, doesn’t come with the blessing of a trusted friend/family member/neighbor.
Why are we so unlovable? We're fun. We're cute. Our baggage is pretty minimal. Well, as is the outcome of most breakups, it's not us, it's THEM.
What Is Going On With These Guys?
If I were to give advice to anyone thinking about doing major construction on their home, it would be this: don't do it when there's 1) full employment and 2) low interest rates. This is the first combo macroeconomic factor we realized (too late) was working against us. The second is that, in addition to low unemployment, there is a well-documented and outsized labor shortage in the trades (carpentry, HVAC, electrical, etc.).So, homeowners have lots of money to throw at their HGTV-fueled fever dreams of RECLAIMED SHIPLAP FEATURE WALLS, and general contractors 1) can demand higher prices for that work BUT 2) can't possibly take all the business that's being thrown at them. So, these guys are eating a LOT better than they were 10 years ago (post-subprime), and they're trying to take advantage of that because, let's face it, nothing lasts forever. BUT, because their capacity is so constrained, they're trying to take the best jobs possible.
Long story short, we're not the best job possible. We tie up a lot of people for a fairly long period of time and we don't have an appetite for the OUTDOOR FIREPLACE COMBO PIZZA OVEN AND WATERSLIDE FOR SOME REASON that the guy down the street will pay $47,000 for. In addition, Joe is hell bent on DIYing some things and kind of taking money directly out of their pocket.
So, basically we look like a good meal ticket until you come across two back-to-back $80k kitchen renovations that you can knock out in a couple months. Then you break up with us via email, Diana does some crying, and Joe plots revenge [clenches fist in front of face].
OK, so, what is one to do?
When looking at the internet and considering the input of friends and neighbors, we saw a few pieces of advice come up consistently:- Get about three quotes
- Personal referrals are kind of the gold standard for quality
- Ask lots of questions / perform due diligence up front
Get About Three* Quotes
We heard from various sources that you want a "good number" of quotes (about 3), but not too many more than that because then they'll be hard to manage, evaluate and compare. What this does not account for is a lot of the messy reality of the search.Technically we went through a GC search twice. The first time, we started by reaching out to maybe 4 or 5, asking them a hundred million question, having them walk the property, etc. After many months, we "decided" on the guy we liked. But, looking back, the reality was that we chose him because he was pretty much the only viable option left; everyone else was too expensive, had really bad communication or had just gone kind of unresponsive. So, at the end we weren't really saying "do we want red or white?"; we were saying, "this apple wine seems pretty good."
The second time around, we did two things differently. First, we started with a BIG pool of options, sourced from personal referrals and the internet. We reached out to almost 20, and talked significantly with about 10. You HAVE TO use a productivity tool to deal with this (I really liked Notion.so); you will not survive otherwise.
So, by staying organized and starting with a big pool, we were able to get a lot more actual quotes and spend more time talking through options with more sources than we had previously done. And by “staying organized” I really mean, “knowing where you left a conversation, EXACTLY, and following up with that person when they’ve blown through some commitment, which they will do. Repeatedly.”
This was a HUGE time commitment. It's a part-time job, easily. So, you probably need to have the luxury of a very flexible [actual] job. At the end, we ended up with two options we actually liked. It was genuinely really hard deciding between them. But in that same pool were multiple GCs that bid more than 2x the budget and even more who ghosted before even getting us a bid. So, based on this experience, burning a lot of your time on a big pool of options pays off, because you have buffer for the options that will never be viable.
Where this method REALLY starts to pay off is when you have two good options, you pick one, and then the one you pick ditches you. For anyone keeping score, again, this happened to us TWICE.
The first time, he was our sole option, so we had to go back to the drawing board. This took months. The second time, we had a comparable option more-or-less ready to go and were able to quickly pivot (save for some groveling/begging him to take the project after I'd already told him we were going with someone else).
Personal Referrals Are The Gold Standard*
I agree that hearing someone's personal experience is a great way to get the lowdown on someone like a GC. However, the asterisk here in my opinion is "style and compatibility really matter." Some people just want a finished product and don't care to be involved, some people want to get their hands very dirty. Some people just want to buy the most expensive shit possible, some people really care about value. The list goes on and on.What we found is that the GC game is a lot more matchmaking than we originally assumed. You have to try to find someone that "gets" how you want to approach a project. At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, you have to be able to communicate. And, based on the crop that we worked with, that is NOT a guarantee.
Which brings us to...
Perform Upfront* Due Diligence
We treated the first round GC search like a job interview. We had bunch of the same kinds of questions about how they might theoretically handle a situation or how their past experience might relate to our project. We thought we were asking the right stuff.But job interviews are terrible at predicting whether someone will be good at a job, and in retrospect, the GC "interviewing" technique was just as flawed. Eh, it was probably actually worse.
With round two we were a little more time-motivated. Instead of playing 20 questions, I was more concerned with whipping these guys through the process of:
- Come to the property
- Talk to us
- Send us a quote
- Answer our questions about your quote
Through this process, you learn a LOT about how a GC operates. When you're walking them around the house explaining things you want to do, do they actually get what the heck you're talking about? Do they listen to you? Do they make suggestions that actually jive with your style or are they suggesting things you hate?
When you get a quote, how organized is it? Do their number seems close to other quotes? Is the electrical number half of what everyone else's is? If so, I doubt they have an awesome budget electrician -- it's more likely they're not scoping the job accurately. Just as importantly, are they transparent about their costs and how they make money?
We found that just working through the process of "can we get to a number we're feeling good about?" will yield as good if not better results than trying to specifically do a bunch of vetting up front.
However, finding a good fit is only part of the equation; finding someone that you think is a good fit for style doesn't necessarily mean that that person won't rip you off, blow through you budget, etc. That is one of the places where a personal referral really shows its merit. However, here are some basic steps that can help provide some peace of mind even if your selected mate, er, GC, doesn’t come with the blessing of a trusted friend/family member/neighbor.
- Make sure they’re actually a GC. In Chicago, GCs have to be registered with the city, and the city does helpful things like force them to keep their insurance up-to-date. Their having valid insurance is good for you, the homeowner, because it reduces the risk you’ll become “homeless” or “destitute.” If for some reason you’re reading this and in Chicago, here’s the city’s website that lists said General Contractors: https://webapps1.chicago.gov/activegcWeb/
- See if they’ve appeared on Judge Judy, The People’s Court or Divorce Court. I’m sure there’s a website for this. Additionally, you may want to consider looking at what’s going on with them in actual court. In Cook County Illinois, you can search dockets for the GC's name, company, etc (again, in case you’re a Cook County person, here’s the website: http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/CourtCaseSearch/). Now, having someone sue your potential GC isn’t a disqualifier by any means (some people are assholes who like to sue). But if there’s 20 people suing them, that’s probably a disqualifier. Also, that TV court thing was a joke. Well, actually, maybe it shows poor judgment. Anyway.
- Check them liens (typography pun!). Again, in Cook County, you can see if people or businesses have liens against them (https://cookrecorder.com/search-our-records/), which would imply they have outstanding debt that's being enforced. And again, having liens can be totally normal. Having a huge number or totally outsized dollar value of those liens? Probably run?
But Joe and Diana, What’s Happening With YOU Guys?
So glad you asked. We’re in a [GC] relationship with a very nice man that drives a hundred-and-thirty-five-thousand dollar Tesla and somehow was able to bid inside of our budget. That’s got to be the smallest Venn diagram in the fucking world. Also, he just started tearing the inside of our house to shreds. Pray for us.
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